


Gifted

by impravidus



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - No Miraculous, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2019-10-31 06:19:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 13,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17844059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/impravidus/pseuds/impravidus
Summary: The AKUMA Institution is a secret organization studying those who are gifted with miraculous powers. Subject Ladybug has the power to create with her hands. Subject Carapace survived a deadly fire with his protective forcefield. Subject Volpina creates illusions with her mind. But for the eighteen years the AKUMA Institution has been running, Gabriel Agreste cannot find the last subject. What he doesn't know is that the last subject is his son.When Adrien can't stand helping his father keep the subjects prisoner to be tested and experimented on, and is in fear that he will soon find out about his powers of destruction, he breaks them out. Now, on the run and trying to protect their identities, the gifted have to find a way to survive on their own.(AU set in America because I don't know Europe)(TW; depression, suicide attempt, and mentions of self harm)





	1. M A R I N E T T E

_The young dark haired girl stared with her bright blue eyes at the tall blonde man spoke on the phone._

_“It’s astonishing. She survived the blast, even though the bakery was in shambles. The parents? Oh, long gone. It’s not like anyone will be looking for her either. With the destruction from the bomb, they’ll all just assume she’s dead too.” The man looked down at the small girl. “I’ve got to go. She’s awake.” He approached her, and crouched down to get to her level. “Hi there. You can call me Hawkmoth. I’m gonna be taking care of you now. What's your name?” The small girl frowned._

_“Mawi-Mawinette.” He tsked as he shook his head._

_“I”m gonna call you Ladybug from now on. Okay?” She furrowed her brows._

_“Where maman? Papa?” He sighed._

_“Maman and Papa went away for a while. I’m gonna be like your papa now.” He ran his fingers through her dark hair and turned to his workers._

_“Take her to her room now.” They nodded and led her to the place she would learn to detest._

 

_Marinette took a look around the room. The walls were plain white, a large mirror on the wall with the door. There was a bed and a toilet and a desk, but nothing else._

_“Teddy!” she called out. She looked under the bed and under the pillow with no prevail. Her lip starting to quiver. “Teddy!” She ripped off the bed sheets, again, no prevail. Tears started forming in her bluebell eyes. “Teddy! Teddy! Teddy!” She stomped as she yelled. She sat on the ground, sobbing. The young girl was far from home, far from her family, and she needed her teddy. Suddenly her hands began to glow with red and her teddy appeared in her hands. She looked up at the stuffed animal and smiled, hugging it tight._

_Gabriel Agreste leaned forward in his chair on the other side of the one way glass, taking off his glasses in disbelief._

_“Astonishing.” He typed notes into his computer and got up, entering the room._

_He went up to the young Marinette who sat on her bed, playing with her teddy, with a series of pictures. Pictures of explosives._

_“Hello Ladybug. Does this look familiar?” He held up a photo of a grenade. She thought long and hard at the picture, but she didn’t recognize the image. She shook her head no. “Okay. That’s okay. What about this one?” She thought hard again and shook her head no. He went through all of the photos but she didn’t recognize anything. He didn’t understand. Then suddenly, it came to him. He took out a pen and drew a circle with a squiggly line coming from the top. She giggled._

_“Boom boom! Pshew pshew!” She used her hands and made grand gestures with them. Then, coming out of her hand with a bright red glow was a cartoon like bomb. Gabriel stood up quickly, alarmed._

_“Gorilla! Please rid of this safely. We’ve confirmed our suspicions. She has the gift.”_

_  
When she was younger, Marinette would listen to the grown-ups talking, even though she didn’t really understand what they were talking about. She could hear them from inside of her room. As she got older, she started to get tired of trying to understand what was going on, and got used to the routine._

_Everyday, the man with the glasses would come in and would try to get her to create things with her hands. Sometimes she could, but mostly she couldn’t. She only did it when she was really emotional or had all her energy. But, as the days went on, she lost her energy. She was exhausted, lonely, and tired of having to work with Hawkmoth._

_The older she got, the more her vague memories of a life before Hawkmoth faded away. All she knew was her room._

_The lady with the red streak in her hair would bring her meals and take her to take showers and to work with Hawkmoth. She never talked to her, but Marinette felt safer with her than she did with the blonde man._

_Sometimes, Marinette would see a blonde boy around the training room. He would watch and take notes. He wouldn’t say much, he would just be there._

_They grew up together, and she learned that he was the son of Hawkmoth. At first, she despised him. She figured he was just like his father, just there to make her work all day._

_But, when his father wasn’t around, he talked to her through the glass. She couldn’t see him, but she could hear his voice. He would tell her about what Nathalie taught him that day. She could never go to school because she would never leave the AKUMA Institution. But, the blonde boy would make her quiet days a little less quiet._

 

_“And there’s this thing called photosynthesis that makes plants grow.” Marinette’s face scrunched in confusion._

_“What’s a plant?” Adrien looked through the glass at the bewildered girl._

_“You don’t know what plants are?” She shook her head._

_“No. What are they?” He scooted his rollie chair closer to the glass._

_“They’re green. Well, they’re not always green, but they grow. Like humans, but they’re not alive. Well, they are alive, but they don’t breathe. Well they breathe in their own way. They make oxygen for us to breathe.” She looked out to the mirror, knowing she can’t see him, but still wanting to look to him._

_“Are they like dogs?” He shook his head._

_“No they’re like… uh… I don’t know how to explain this.” He went to the computer and printed out pictures of all different plants. Ferns and trees and flowers. All of the things he saw everyday. He then took the papers and slid them under the door. “They look like this.” She looked at them for a long time. She then crouched down to the floor and held her hands out. Growing throughout the room was grass and flowers blooming from the ground. The blonde boy took in a deep breath of awe._

_“Wow. That’s amazing.” Before he could say anything else, his father entered. He immediately changed the way he acted, sitting straighter, moving away from the room. “Father. She has taken the next step of her training.” He nodded._

_“Great job, Adrien. Well done.”_

 

_Sometimes Marinette knew how to feel about Adrien. Other times she didn’t know at all. Some moments he was so sweet. She could hear him smile in the way he spoke. She heard his beautiful laugh and he taught her all the things that she couldn’t truly understand. Then other moments, he had a stoic look on his face as he got frustrated with her for not creating anything or not doing more. But he only acted that way when Hawkmoth was around. She didn’t know what was the real him. However, that’s all she knew. All she knew was the AKUMA Institution, and Hawkmoth, and the blonde boy that could make her smile._

 

_At age thirteen, Marinette sat in her room, shaking with anxiety. She couldn’t take it anymore. She couldn’t take the abuse and the exhaustion and the strain it took to create anymore. She was giving up. In her shaky hand, she created a gun; one that she saw the guards have in their holsters when she would pass by the exits on her way to training. She took a deep breath and accidentally let out a loud sob as she cried._

_Adrien looked up from his book and looked away, not fully understanding the situation. Suddenly he snapped up to see what was happening before his eyes. The world moved in slow motion as he typed in the entry code to her room, and threw the gun across the room. He held her tight as the tears stained his shirt, and he stroked her hair. He slowly went down so they were sitting on the floor, her head resting on his chest as she cried._

_“It’s going to be okay. I’m here.” He shushed and whispered quietly, not sure what to tell her to feel better. She tried to push away. At the moment, things were tense between her and Adrien. The side to him that he was around his father had become a more common thing, and she had concluded that that was the real him. She knew that he didn’t truly care about her. That she was just an experiment, and he was keeping her alive to keep experimenting on her. But something in him really cared about her, and didn’t want anything to happen to her.After that, she was on constant surveillance. All of the guards would take shifts constantly watching Marinette. Making sure she didn’t try anything like that again. And she didn’t. She just laid in her bed, staring at the ceiling, not saying anything. She was broken, and tired, and alone, because no one was like her. At least, not that she knew of yet._


	2. N I N O

_Thirteen year old, Nino Lahiffe, wasn’t something special. He had passing grades, he had a healthy amount of friends, he had his hobbies and dislikes and likes. He was just a normal teen. That was, until there was the fire. It was supposed to be a normal visit to his father’s work, but the skyscraper began crumbling down as the flames spread from the bottom levels to the top. As the elevator cord snapped, he was ready for the impact. But the impact never came. He was alive, even though the elevator was destroyed. As he ran through the debris, nothing harmed him. He wasn’t burnt, he wasn’t crushed, he didn’t have a single scratch._

_He looked back into the collapsed building and yelled for his father until his throat was raw, and he couldn't scream anymore. Paramedics came to him, telling him that they needed to check his lungs for damage from the fire. Following them into their van was something he would regret for the rest of his life._

 

_Nino despised the people at AKUMA the minute he figured out their intentions. Not even he could fully understood his powers, but he knew that they were going to exploit them for their own. They hadn’t tried anything on him yet, but he knew soon they would ask him questions he wouldn’t know the answers to, and experiment on him to test his limits. As he sat on his bed, staring at the blank wall, he heard a voice call out through the wall._

_“Hi.”_

_“Uhm hello? Is someone there?” Nino responded, confused._

_“Yeah. I’m… I’m in the room next to you.” He stood up, trying to find the wall she was talking through._

_“There’s someone else like me?” She nodded, even though he couldn’t see her._

_“Uh, yeah. I mean, kind of. I’m Ladybug.” He furrowed his eyebrows._

_“What’s your real name?” She tilted her head, perplexed at the question._

_“Is that not my real name?” He bit the inside of his mouth as he thought._

_“Uh, Ladybug? How long have you been here?” She laughed slightly at the question, for it seemed obvious._

_“Since forever.” Nino felt his legs become weak as he realized the severity of the situation._

_“And you never have tried to leave?” She chuckled again._

_“Only once. But I mean, I live here. Where would I go?” He took a sharp breath._

_“Are you okay? Do you… are we safe?” She paused to think._

_“I think… I think they won’t ever hurt us… because… because they need us.”_

 

_Nino would try his best to explain to Marinette the truth, but like Plato’s allegory of the cave stated, if someone were to live one way for their entire life, there was no way to depict the true world they had never seen before. All Marinette knew was the AKUMA Institution, and there was no way to truly make her believe in something more than that._

_Nino would tell her about the things he knew about life. Unlike Adrien’s lessons from school, Nino told her things about his school and family and his favorite movies movies and video games. He told her about music and all the different kinds of music there was. He would sing her songs and explain the difference between BPMs and keys and why some songs sound better together than others. Marinette didn’t really get it, but she liked how it would make him happy._

 

_After a while, Nino got used to being demoted to Subject Carapace. Everyday, the AKUMA workers would test him. They started by shooting tennis balls at him at high speeds. When he would block them with his force field, they would take note. Soon, they would amp it up, launching knives and fire at him. They learned that the force field only worked as long as he was concentrating fully, and he could keep it up longer when he had more adrenaline in his system. There were always protocols so he would never get hurt, but didn’t know that. He found out when he had been so exhausted from the testing that he just let the forcefield down, expecting for a quick but painful escape from the torturous testings, but the pain never came. The man with the glasses let him take a break from the tests._

 

_Marinette didn’t like to talk about her power with Nino. She didn’t like talking about it to anyone, really. Instead, she told him about things she dreamed about._

_Nino would listen fondly as she told him about two people she had dreams about. One was a big, tall man with a mustache who would bake with her. The other was a short woman who would play dolls and dress up with her. The things she liked were juvenile; things like stuffed animals and pretty dresses. Yet she also had a pessimistic and nihilistic view on life. Nino soon realized that Marinette was much younger than him. Not specifically in age, but in her mental state. He deduced that she had been in the Institution for so long that she never truly developed the way she should at the age she is. Her maturity was mostly from her sense to survive and the hardships she has had to endure over the years of experimentation._

_Nino knew one thing, and that was that he had to protect Marinette from the harshness of the world. He had to protect her from the things that would penetrate her childlike wonder about life._


	3. A L Y A

_ “Now Alya, I’m going to ask one more time. Why did you jump from a three story building?” Alya leaned forward. _

_ “They were following me. They’re always following me. It’s like, no matter where I look, I see them behind me, in the distance, waiting to come get me. And they they they they were coming to get me. I’m not crazy! I’m not. They’re real, and they’re coming, and I know I’m not the only one who sees them!” The doctor nodded, unsure of what to tell Alya Cesaire, the seventeen year old girl laying in the hospital bed. _

_ “Now, Alya, have they said anything to you?” Alya shook her head. _

_ “No. They just follow me. It’s like even when it’s dark out, I can see them as if they’re in bright daylight.” _

_ “Alya, I think it’s best if we take you somewhere where someone more qualified can help you. People much better with your… with your situation. We’ve talked about it with your mom, and she thinks it’s for the best as well.” The ombre haired girl’s jaw dropped. _

_ “You’re sending me to a mental hospital? I’m not crazy! I’m not!” Two men entered the room. _

_ “They’re going to help you, Alya. I promise you, they will.” _

 

_ Strapped onto a stretcher in the back of a van, Alya tried to keep calm as she stared forward out of the window. Suddenly, the car came to a sudden halt. She felt the stretcher lurch forward, and with wide eyes she saw them. The things that followed her. They were there, stopping the car. _

_ “They’re real. Someone else sees them. They’re actually… they’re actually real.” She didn’t know if she should feel happy that she’s not crazy or terrified that the things that tormented her for years weren’t figments of her imagination. The things contorted and crawled on top of the car, knocking hard on the windows. The man in the front of the car took out a gun and shot it, but the bullet went right through it, the thing disappearing in a puff of smoke. _

_ “What?” She whispered to herself. The man got back into the car and took out a phone. _

_ “She’s the one. We’re taking her in now.” Alya looked around, confused and scared, struggling against the grip of the ties holding her down on the stretcher. _

_ “Who are you people? You’re not really workers for a mental hospital are you? Where are you taking me.” She started to hyperventilate. “Help me! Someone! Help me! I’m being kidnapped!” The one man turned to his partner. _

_ “Make her quiet.” His partner unbuckled and turned around and injected something sharp into her neck. _

_ “No. No please. I’ll stop. Please don’t…” Before she could finish, she fell into a deep sleep. _

 

_ “Help me! Someone please help! Let me out of here!” Alya yelled. _

_ “They’re not gonna let you out. Just give up now.” She heard a male voice call through the wall. _

_ “Who are you? Are you with them?” Alya replied angrily. _

_ “No. I’ve been taken by them too.” She relaxed. _

_ “How long have you been here?” He didn’t respond. “Hello?”  _

_ “What year is it?” She walked closer to the wall. _

_ “It’s 2019.” He paused again. _

_ “It’s been three years.” Alya didn’t talk to the person on the other side of the wall for the rest of the day. _

 

_ Alya didn’t work with the man in the glasses without a fight. She didn’t know what he wanted from her. She didn’t know why he kept trying to make her make the things come back. She didn’t want them back. The first time they came back were in her room. _

_ She sat catatonic on her bed, staring at the things. The only way she could describe them were dark. They were tall and skinny, but their limbs faded away into rips. They were faceless yet they had glowing eyes. They stared her down as she sat helplessly in her room. _

_ When Adrien looked into the room, he wasn’t expecting those at all. He had never seen anything like them. He unlocked the room, his shaky hand holding a handgun. When he entered, the things lunged towards him, but didn’t harm him. They just surrounded him, and stared him down like they did to Alya.  _

_ Alya realized that when she wanted them to attack her capturer, they did. But they didn’t do anything. She then grasped the fact that these weren’t just figments of her imagination, they were illusions.  _

 

_ Alya didn’t know how to feel about her powers. She felt a little jealous that the other two teens there used their powers with simple ease. They had a complete understanding of these magical and mysterious things, and yet she didn’t even know she had them until a week prior. She didn’t know how to control them or how to summon these illusions. For years she thought she was losing her mind, but then it turns out that she had had these amazing abilities. She had been holding herself back from finding her true potential. _

_ The boy in the room next to her would reassure her that things would be okay, and that she had an advantage to them because she had more time to stall and learn how to use her abilities instead of endless using their powers for trials they had done day after day.  _

_ The more she talked to the boy in the room next to her, the more she learned about the place she was and life with powers. He made her feel normal. He made her feel safe. _

 

_ “Nino?” She called out. _

_ “Yeah, Alya?” _

_ “I promise we will get a way out. I will get us out of here. We will leave this place. Together.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason she is put in a stretcher is because I know when I was being transported from the hospital to the mental hospital they put me on a stretcher.


	4. A D R I E N

_ “Pick up your pace, Adrien! We don’t have all day!” The green eyed boy’s legs burned from the daily training. Two miles of running, half an hour of muscular endurance, and the other half a parkour course. The AKUMA Institution wasn’t a place for a fun childhood, it was for training. That was his life. _

_ “Go check on Subject Ladybug after your final lap,” his father instructed. _

_ “She has a name, Father,” eight year old Adrien said quietly. _

_ “Yes, and her name is Ladybug.” _

 

_ Nine year old Adrien sat outside of the glass paneled room where Marinette limply sat. They always had her under surveillance in case she would create something new. But she stopped created after a while. She was exhausted, hurt, and didn’t want to do anything to help their research. She was a lab rat to them. _

_ “Please, Adrien. Can you let me out?” _

_ “I’m sorry, Ladybug, but you know I can’t do that. You can come out when you create something.” He knew it was a lie, but he was lying to himself too. _

 

_ By age eleven, Adrien found out about his powers. His father had yelled at him for not getting her to create anything that day and for getting below an a hundred on his assessment. The blonde boy stared at the black inky glow from his hands. Distressed, he tried to get up from his chair, but the chair dissolved into a black dust. Alarmed, he turned around, leaning onto his desk, that too dissipated beneath his fingertips. Finally, the black faded away, and he could see his hands again. He realized this was a secret he had to keep to himself for as long as his father was alive. His father would treat him like a subject. He couldn’t do that. _

 

Adrien Agreste was a sheltered child. His mother died when he was young, so all her knew was life with his father. His father was the fashion mogul, Gabriel Agreste. On the surface level, that’s all he was. But Adrien knew the truth.

It was when he was six years old after his mother died when his father introduced him to his passion project. The Miraculous. That’s what he called them. People with special abilities, unknown and unexplained by the current knowledge of society. At first, he had him observe the only subject of the experiment, Ladybug. His father tried to make Adrien detest the girl who was different. To see her only as a test subject, a freak, the one that will get him what he wants. But Adrien was too kind of a boy to feel that way. He played the part that his father wanted him to play, but he could never truly feel that way about the girl in the mirrored room.

Deep in his heart, he knew that what his father did was wrong. He knew that it was sinister, and that no humane person would do what he does, but it’s not like anyone would believe him. His father was famous. He was a household name with lots and lots of power. Adrien? He was a kid. Soon, he learned there was nothing he could do.

He tried his hardest to get to know the people in the mirrored rooms, but there wasn’t much he could do. Ladybug grew up with him, and she used to trust him, but once his father was around more and didn’t leave them with their alone time and he had to put on an act for him, she began distancing herself from him. There were no more daily talks. There were no more laughs and joking around and teaching her what he learned at school. It was silent routine and training.

When Subject Carapace arrived, he dug the final nail in what had been Adrien and Marinette’s friendship. Nino told her all of the realities of what she was doing there, and why she was taken there. She lost all trust she had for him.

When Subject Volpina arrived, he knew things needed to change. This whole experiment had gone on for too long.

Adrien Agreste was finally going to do something about it. 


	5. E S C A P E

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is mostly setting up the next chapter, so it's not that crazy or action packed, but trust me, it'll get more suspenseful as it goes on.

Adrien had been planning it for months. He had the money, he had the plan. Now all he had to do was execute it.

Knowing the time when it was only him on watch duty over the gifted, he used his destructive powers on the generator for the entire facility to shut down all of the electricity, and blocked the entrance to the observation room. He quickly swiped at all of the keypads, opening all of the rooms.

“Don’t ask any questions, just come with me.” The three teens stared up at him in confusion. “Now!” He barked out in his most stern voice he could muster. They hurried out of their rooms. He grabbed his backpack filled with cash and used his hand to break through the wall that led to the emergency tunnels that he knew no one would be in. “Follow me. And hurry!” 

“Why should we trust you?” Nino questioned.

“Please, we don’t have much time. We have to go before they find us.” Alya interrupted him.

“Find us. Not you.” Adrien ran his fingers through his hair.

“Did you really not see how I got you out of there?” Alya and Nino looked at him with disbelief.

“It’s literally pitch black.” Adrien sighed.

“Please, I’m trying to break you out. I know you have no reason to trust me, but you need to.” Marinette looked up with and said with a shaky voice,

“I think we should trust him.” Alya scoffed.

“Girl, are you crazy?” Marinette tried to make out his face in the dark.

“I know him. He wasn’t always like this. I know there’s still good left in there. We should trust him.” Alya looked to Nino.

“Fine.” Adrien let out a breath of relief.

“Okay. Now follow me. We only have so long until they get back and notice we are gone.”

Adrien led them through the tunnels until they got to the exit. Marinette stopped.

“What are you doing? We have to go,” Adrien ordered. She shook her head.

“I’ve never been outside before. What if I’m not meant to be outside?” Adrien grabbed her hands.

“You are. You’re going to be alright,” he tugged at her hand, but she didn’t move. “La… Marinette. That’s your real name. Your real name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. You had a life outside once. You deserve to have it again. You’re gonna get to wear those pretty dresses and hug all the stuffed animals you want. You’re meant to be outside. Now come on.” He held her hand as they exited into the plains lit by dim night sky.

“There’s an AKUMA vehicle masked to look like a normal car so there would be inconspicuous transportation. We can take that. I have five thousand dollars in this backpack. If we leave now and switch off drivers, we can get out of the state by morning. Then we can switch cars, keeping driving, and create a new life. When we get enough money, we can flee to another country. It’s all going to be okay.” He kept whispering that last phrase to himself. “It’s all going to be okay. It’s all going to be okay.”

“Why are you doing this?” Nino interjected.

“Because I know you don’t deserve this. Not any longer.” He gripped harder on the steering wheel as he started driving faster. He needed to get far away from the Institution. Far enough so his father doesn’t know where they are. But how could he get rid of the evidence?

“How do we know that they aren’t going to find us with tracking chips or something?” Nino interrogated.

“I’ve completely disobeyed my father. I don’t want him finding me either. I got rid of the tracking device on this car, and there is no tracking devices in you.”

“Look, I don’t fully trust you, and I don’t think I ever will, but I do have a plan instead of us flying by the seed of our pants and playing it by ear,” Alya stated. Adrien looked to her for a second but went back to keeping his eyes on the road, or more of, the lack of road.

“Anything. Whatever you say, I’m on board.” 

“We should stop by my house.” The car lurched forward as he hit the breaks.

“What do you mean stop by your house? Are you really suggesting we just take you back to your homes?” She scoffed, as if to show him that that was a stupid question.

“I know I will never be able to go back home. I’ve accepted that. I know the AKUMA Institution will always be looking for me. But, if we get to my house, we can get some clothes, toiletries, and bedding. I have a minivan that has seats that go fully down. Two people could sleep in the back and the other two can sleep in the reclined seats in the front. Living in a car would save us money instead of living in an apartment. Plus, we’d only be taking from my room so it’s not like we are really robbing my family. When we get my car that also means they won’t be looking for the AKUMA vehicle.” Adrien nodded, relaxing his grip on the steering wheel.

“That is a good idea. Where do you live?” 

“18724 Meadowbrook Dr. San Diego California.” Adrien nodded.

“We’re in Oregon right now. A drive to southern California will be just over half a days drive. Then we can leave somewhere far away from here. How does Virginia sound to you guys?” Nino and Marinette didn’t respond. Marinette was too busy gawking at the world passing by her through the window. She didn’t remember the outside. She was shown pictures, pictures of the outside to recreate, but never had she seen it in person. Nino still didn’t trust Adrien. Alya may have put up a fight when she arrived at the institution, but she had only been there for a month. She didn’t have the deeply rooted disdain towards the blonde haired boy and his father.

“So, we just have to hope that my parents haven’t changed jobs. Usually they would both be at work on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 9-2. What day is it today?” Adrien looked behind him to make sure no one was following them.

“It’s Monday. If we start now with no breaks, we will be there by the time your parents are gone at work.” 

 

And so they did. It was a tense, silent drive for the first hour. The only thing filling the silence was the faint playing of the music on the radio. Adrien knew that there wouldn’t be a sudden understanding of trust and friendship like he had always hoped. He also knew that he couldn’t just tell them about his powers. To them, he was the guy who had been experimenting on them. He was the heartless teen who watched as they were tormented by endless hours of tests and training. He would never be one of them. He would just be the one who in self preservation saved them too.

Something they probably didn’t realize is that he knew everything about all of them. Not just the facts in their profile descriptions, but who they were as people. He heard all of their conversations and saw the way they bonded with each other. He knew the ins and outs of their powers and the way they connect with them. He knew their limits. 

However, the one he knew the most was Marinette. He watched her grow up with him. He saw how she changed. She used to be so eager to learn. As time went on, she lost her excitement for life. That was, until she met Nino. Adrien didn’t know what it was like to be jealous until Nino came around. To see her laugh and smile with him the way she used to with him made something deep in his blood boil. Of course, he was too oblivious to realize that was the reason. That all added up to why he got harsher with the new subjects, because he knew there was no going back to the time where it was him and Marinette. 

“I just realized, that we need to disguise ourselves. If they put out a description to the police, we can’t look like who they’re looking for.” Nino sighed, not wanting to agree with him.

“He’s right. We should stop by a beauty store for some hair dye.” Alya nodded.

“And I used to cut my friend’s hair so I could maybe give everyone haircuts?” Adrien nodded.

“This is a good plan,” he stated. Marinette shook her head.

“No.” Alya turned to the small girl, now shaking with anxiety.

“What’s wrong?” The blue eyed girl looked up with tears forming in her eyes.

“Please don’t cut my hair. I love my hair.” Alya took hold of the pale girl’s small hand.

“We have to. We don’t want the mean man to find us.” She thought long and hard trying to figure out how to make her feel better, when a lightbulb went off in her mind. “You know, if it’ll make you feel better, Mari, we can do something special with all of your hair.” Marinette looked up to the taller girl, wide eyed in wonder.

“Something special?” Alya smiled genuinely and nodded.

“You’ve got very long hair. When we cut your hair, we can donate it so that somewhere so that someone without hair can get your hair in a wig. It would be super special to them.” Marinette giggled to herself.

“I could do something super special for someone else?” Alya nodded again. Marinette closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Okay. You can cut my hair.” Adrien nodded.

“So it’s settled. Look on the GPS where the closest Sally’s is.”

 

Now equipped with a bottle of black hair dye, a bottle of blue, bleach, and hair cutting shears, Alya took over for the driving to give Adrien a break.

“We’re going to have to stay at a hotel for at least one night so we can dye our hair in a bathtub,” Adrien pointed out. “And I’m pretty sure Walgreens sells colored contacts, so I can order those and pick them up on our way to Virginia for me. Oh and if we have enough money, we should get phones so we can find ourselves some jobs there so we can manage living on our own and don’t end up completely homeless.”

“Adrien,” Marinette called out in her soft voice. He immediately felt warmth spread through his body as he relaxed. “It’s going to be okay.” 

“It’s all going to be okay.”

 

“Okay, it’s the house on the end,” Alya instructed.

“What’s the plan?” Adrien asked.

“I’m going to open the garage, run inside and grab my keys. You’re going to leave your car next to the sidewalk and back up my car so the trunk is facing towards the house. My room is above the garage, so I’m going to drop down my stuff from the window. We have to be very fast before anyone starts getting suspicious, but I’m pretty sure all of my neighbors are also at work.” By now, Alya had already gotten her keys and handed them off to Adrien, and was running to her room.

She took in a deep breath as she saw her room again. It was something she didn’t expect she would ever do.

“Right, hurry up.” She first went into her locked chest to get all of the cash she had been saving for her trip to Europe for her senior year, and shoved it into a duffel bag. She then took as many clothes as she could and stuffed them in backpacks and other duffel bags, sending them through the window. She then threw down her comforter and pillows. “The guys,” she whispered to herself. She went to her dad’s room and grabbed all of his clothes, shoving them into a trash bag, and threw them down as well. She took one last look around her room, trying to figure out if she should bring anything else. She shook her head, knowing they had to go.

By the time she got back down, they had all of the things she had thrown down. She spent a moment to take in the sight of her house.

“Goodbye,” she said softly. “Let’s go.” 


	6. R U N N I N G

“So do you guys want something to eat?” Nino looked at Adrien with disbelief.

“Is that all you can think about? Something to eat?” Marinette looked up at the front of the car.

“I just thought, it’s almost been a day. I thought you I just thought you’d be hungry. You know? And I mean you guys never really got good food and I just…” Alya cut him off,

“It’s fine. I am pretty hungry. Do you think there’s a Chick-Fil-A somewhere? I’ve been craving it since I got taken.” Marinette flinched. Adrien nodded.

“Yeah, I think I saw one on the last exit sign. It’ll probably come up again.” Nino, feeling foolish as he was out of the loop, asked,

“What is Chick-Fil-A?” Marinette raised her hand slightly.

“I was going to ask too.” Alya looked between the two in disbelief.

“You’ve never been to Chick-Fil-A?” Nino, still confused, responded,

“I’ve never even heard of it.” Alya leaned back into her seat.

“It’s only like the best restaurant ever. They sell the best chicken nuggets and their Chick-Fil-A sauce is literally to die for and they have these milkshakes that…” she paused, her spirits dissipating. “You know, talking about this almost made me forget why we’re in this car in the first place.” The car went solemnly silent.

“We’re getting you away. That’s a good thing,” Adrien said, breaking the tense quiet.

“But we’ll always be on the run. We will always be looking over our shoulder in fear.” Adrien sighed.

“I know I can never promise you your total freedom. I can’t promise you that you’ll ever see your families again, or even get to truly have a family of your own and your own life outside of AKUMA. But, I can promise that you’ll find a better life than AKUMA. We have each other and that’s what we need to hold onto right now,” he smiled softly. “Now, how about that Chick-Fil-A?”

 

“Empty your tanks while we are here. I don’t want you to have to go to the bathroom while we are in the middle of a highway. What do you want?” Marinette and Nino looked cluelessly at him, unsure of what to say.

“How about this? You give me the money, and I’ll order for everyone based on what I know they like. You can “empty your tank” and these two watch the car to make sure nothing happens to it.” Nino scrunched his face in disagreement.

“I actually have to go to the bathroom.” Alya groaned. Before she could respond, Adrien proposed,

“I can just run in and come right back to be with Marinette.” Alya looked to Marinette. The dark haired girl nodded.

“That’s okay with me.” Alya touches her shoulder gently.

“And you’re sure you’ll be okay?” Marinette nodded again.

“I’m sure, Alya. Go.” Hesitantly, she left the car with the boys.

Marinette stared out the window as the radio played pop music softly. She admired the blue sky and the green trees and all the many different colors she saw around the restaurant. Suddenly, she saw two men talking behind their car.

“Okay we just go in, you keep the customers down as you point your gun at them, and I get the cash from the cashier. That’s the plan.” Marinette’s eyes widened. What were they planning?

“Okay that…” The man looked toward Marinette. “Well what do we have here?” 

“What are you doing?” his accomplice asked.

“She seems to have a lot of things in this car. Maybe there’s something good for us.” The two men approached the car, and Marinette felt helpless as they tapped on the window of the car.

“Hey sweetheart. Let us in. You’ve got some nice stuff in there. It would be a shame for us to have to take it by force. So how about you  just let us take it?” Marinette shook her head.

“N-no. I… I can’t do that.” The man dryly laughed and pulled out his gun, pointing it at her through the window.

“Then I guess it has to go the hard way.” Before they could shoot, there was a gruff voice calling behind them,

“Hey!” The two men turned around to see Adrien. “Don’t you dare touch her.” The men looked at each other and laughed.

“What are you going to do about it pretty boy?” Adrien smirked.

“Try me.” Marinette shook her head, pounding her fists on the window.

“Adrien, no!” The taller man laughed.

“Why waste our time with him when we can just kill him?” Marinette now had tears streaming down her face, fearful for her powerless friend. Adrien didn’t lose eye contact with the men in front of him as they raised their gun up to him. 

The click of the gun and the boom as the bullet left the muzzle rang in his ears, as he held up his hand in front of his face. Marinette covered her ears as she looked away. The black glow fizzed on his hand, and the bullet didn’t penetrate his skin. Instead, it fell to the ground in a dark ash.

“What the hell?” While the man looked between Adrien and his gun, the blonde teen took the opportunity to destroy the gun in his hand. Adrien held pulled the man down by the collar of shirt.

“I’d run if I were you.” He turned to Marinette, who was now looking away, shaking with anxiety. He unlocked the car, and sat in the seat next to her. “Shshsh. It’s okay. I’m right here.” Marinette looked up, confused.

“But they shot you!” Adrien shook his head, running his fingers through her hair.

“They missed. It’s okay.” Nino and Alya ran out to the car.

“Was that a fucking gunshot?” Alya demanded.

“Yeah, they…” Alya cut Adrien off,

“We have to leave now.” The blonde boy was about to question her but realized the situation. “We have to go now! Get in, get in.” As inconspicuous as she could, Alya pulled away from the restaurant filled with chaos.

“Let’s just hope there weren’t any cameras. It’s all going to be okay. It’s all going to be okay.” Alya looked back to Adrien.

“How did you survive?” Adrien looked to her, not prepared with a lie.

“Huh?” Alya scoffed in disbelief.

“Don’t “huh” me. They shot. They couldn’t have missed because the bullet would’ve shattered the window. Shit. Are you shot?” Adrien shook his head.

“No, no they uh they missed.”

“Bullshit.” 

“Well it didn’t hit me! It must’ve been empty o-or blanks just for show.” Marinette, still shaking, grabbed Adrien’s hand. He rubbed his thumb on the back of it, as she gripped his tightly. “Please, can we save this conversation for later? Marinette is still very shaken up about all of this.” Alya looked back at Marinette.

“Shit, Marinette. Are you okay sitting with him? We can park and Nino can…” 

“No. Adrien. It’s okay. I want to sit with him.” Alya nodded hesitantly.

“Okay,” she nudged Nino. “Can you feed me my nuggets while I eat? I can’t multitask well.” 

 

Marinette rested her head on Adrien’s shoulder as she slept, and Nino snored as he reclined in his seat, not crushing the tiny girl’s legs at all since she was so petite.

“Where are we?” Adrien whispered to Alya. She looked at the GPS.

“We’re in Utah.” He nodded. “What did you do to her?” He furrowed his brows, confused.

“What?” She sighed, getting a little more upset.

“What did you do to Marinette to make her suddenly trust you? Because I sure as hell don’t trust you, and I know Nino doesn’t. So what did you say or do to make her suddenly be all touchy lovey with you.” He licked his dry lips, now more nervous than confused.

“I-I didn’t do anything. She just… after what happened she was really concerned.” She didn’t respond.

“I know I’m new here, and she’s known you for a while, but this isn’t some deeply set in “he used to be good” trust. This is stockholm syndrome, no one else but you were around, kind of trust. I know you’re not a good guy and for some sick reason, you have an underlying agenda for yourself. And whatever that is, I don’t trust it.” 

“Well, you don’t have to trust me. But I’m saying, with all honesty, that just because I’m doing this for me, I chose to also get you guys out. I did that because I know what my father did was wrong.” Alya shook her head, not believing what he said.

“Something is up with you, Adrien. And I  _ will  _ be the one who finds out what that is.”


	7. R E S T S T O P

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to ask my study hall teacher how hotels work because I didn’t know lol

    “Guys. We’re almost at the motel. Just a couple more minutes, okay?” The passengers all looked to Adrien, exhausted from the two day trip, backs aching from sitting in the seats. The only time they got to be on their feet was when they stopped for gas and bathroom breaks.

    “Thank fuck. I need to not sleep upright for at least five minutes,” Alya stated.  
    “Well, we have to get used to the feel of sleeping in the car. That’s going to be our lives for a while.” Adrien realized the mistake in his statement. “How about when we get to the motel, take a long rest, dye and cut our hair right after we all wake up and then we have the rest of our stay at the motel to do whatever we want to.” The rest of the car mumbled agreements. “Alya, can you grab the hair stuff? It’s back there somewhere.” Alya rolled her eyes but did as he said.

 

    So, there they were, after a long nap, Marinette leaning her head over a trash bag as Alya tied her hair into five ponytails, Nino out cold as he sprawled out on the queen bed, and Adrien “out” doing something he couldn’t disclose.

    “Marinette?” Alya called out quietly.

    “Yeah?” Marinette fiddled with her fingers, her only experience with haircuts being with the lady with the glasses at AKUMA.

    “Why do you trust Adrien?” Marinette shrugged.  
    “Before you or Nino came, it was just us. He would be on the other side of wall, and he would tell me about all the things he learned at this thing called school. He would get so excited to teach me about all of that zience stuff. He would make me feel better when the mean man would push me too hard, and he was the reason I could truly understand my powers. He always knew how to explain things or cheer me on or make me feel… feel… what’s the word for when you don’t feel tense?”

    “Relaxed.” She nodded.

    “He made me feel relaxed. He was so nice. But when I got older, I got lonelier. I knew he couldn’t understand what it’s like to be like me. He started being more meaner with me during our training and he wouldn’t talk to me much. But also that was because the mean man was always there too. I think… I think if the man wasn’t there… then Adrien would’ve kept being nice to me.” Alya stopped what she was doing. She couldn’t believe the things that Marinette told her. Adrien couldn’t be that guy. Marinette was young and was seeing it through the lens of a child. The guy who barked out demands and schemed with his father in front of her… that couldn’t be the guy that Marinette described.

    “Do you really think he changed now that he’s helping us?” Marinette shook her head.

    “I don’t think he changed. I think he’s being his real self again.”

 

    Down the street from the motel, Adrien sat in the chair of a tattoo parlor, prepared to get a sleeve.

    “So you chose the lion and rose sleeve? Pretty inky for your first tat,” the tattoo artist said to Adrien, preparing his tools.

    “Go big or go home, you know?” Adrien tried to put on a confident face, but he was truly terrified.

    “It’s going to be a while and you didn’t seem to bring anything to listen to. Do you want to borrow the headphones and iPod we have?” Adrien nodded.

    “Yes please. If this is going to be a while, I need something to keep my mind off of the pain.” The man passed over the gadget.

    “Pick out your Pandora station now because you have to be still for the next… ten hours.”

 

    “He fucking took a thousand dollars and bolted!” Alya was enraged. She felt like her head was pounding and there was steam pouring out of her ears.

    “He couldn’t have just left, right?” Nino asked.

    “Where else could he fucking be? He took the car, he took a FIFTH of our cash, and he’s nowhere to be seen without telling us even a hint of where he could be. So tell me, Nino, where the _fuck_ could he be?” Marinette quietly ran her fingers through her now short that Alya put into pigtails. She felt lighter and freer, a new Marinette. “Of course we couldn’t fucking trust him, Nino. We were idiots! We fell for his stupid tricks and now he’s left us on our own.”

“That’s not true,” Marinette said quietly.

“What?” Alya asked.

“Adrien wouldn’t do that. He’s probably out doing something important. For us.” Alya laughed dryly as she shook her head.

“That asshole isn’t doing something for us. He never was going to! For all we know he’s out calling his father saying he’s set the bait for the trap. _Maybe_ they needed to relocate us to a new AKUMA facility and this was their twisted trick they played on us to get us there.” There was a rattling behind the door. “Don’t move.” There was a knock.

“Guys, my key isn’t working. Can you let me in?” Alya looked to Nino and back to the door.

“Let him in, Alya,” Nino said, tired. As she opened the door, she smacked him in the arm, not realizing it was wrapped up.

“Where the flying _fuck_ were you?” Adrien flinched in pain, holding his arm.

“I was getting a tattoo. For my new persona.” Alya furrowed her eyebrows, not fully understanding

“A tattoo?” Adrien nodded slowly.

“I’m the last person on earth to ever get a tattoo. If my father ever heard the description of a blue haired, tattooed, pierced young man, he wouldn’t think it was me.” Alya crossed her arms over her chest.

“You got a piercing too?” He motioned to his ears.

“It was a combo deal.” She nodded.

“And you couldn’t just tell us that?” He shrugged.

“You all were tired. I didn’t want to bore you with my plans. Hey, where is the safe? I grabbed way too much extra in case they charged more than I thought.” Alya realized her assumptions of Adrien were incorrect, feeling foolish for her previous outburst.

“So your hair, what do you want me to do?” He went to his bag and pulled out a picture.

“Well if I straighten my hair, I could do a punk emo kind of thing. The blue would be best for that. I was thinking the black would be best for you. It’s a more natural color that would compliment your skin tone.” Alya looked over to Nino, who shrugged.

“Fine. Let’s start.”

 

By the time everyone had their new hair looks, Alya was exhausted.

“How much longer do we have the room?” Adrien checked his watch.

“We checked in at two yesterday so… about nine more hours.” She nodded.

“Then that’s nine hours I can spend sleeping again.”

“Wait,” Adrien interjected. “We should get some room service before you go to sleep.” She looked at the clock on the wall.

“It’s two in the morning. Do you really think they are serving it now?” He nodded.

“You’re right. Well we could go to an iHop?”

 

“And I’ll have the Oreo Oh My Goodness Pancake Combo.” The waitress nodded.

“Anything else?” Adrien looked around the table for confirmation.

“Nope. I think that’s it.” The now bluenette tapped his fingers on the table nervously. The four were currently wearing their new clothes they had taken from Alya’s house. The clothes fit Nino perfectly, but were a little tight on Adrien’s toned arms.

“So, what do you plan for us now that we are out of… you know what?” Adrien looked up to Nino.

“Well, like I said before, I think whoever wants to get a job should get a phone. Create new emails, new accounts. I have a high school degree but I know none of you do. There are some jobs that don’t require them, but not many that aren’t retail jobs, and being with the public all the time could be risky.” Nino nodded in agreement.

“We should get those soon so we can spend our free time in the car on our way to Virginia.” They all looked up and stopped talking as the waiter came back with their drinks, responding with various “thank you”s. As he walked away, they all leaned back in with hushed voices.

“I don’t think it would be smart of me to get a job. At least, not yet. I still don’t have control over my powers, and if one of my illusions went loose while I was working with a customer or interviewing, that would be detrimental to our cover.” Nino put a hand on Alya’s shoulder.

“We understand, Alya. You don’t need to explain.”

“Plus, Marinette needs someone to keep her company. Isn’t that right, Mari?” Marinette nodded shyly. “So I guess you boys are the money makers of the car.”

“Okay, so the plan is, we savour our time sleeping in a bed, check out, get right back in the car to Virginia, get to the nearest phone store on the way, and… figure it out when we get there?”

“It’s a plan.”


	8. V I R G I N I A

As Alya drove, the only break in the silence was the hum of the radio. Adrien sat with Marinette who stared out the window with her childlike wonder, and Adrien admired her beauty from afar. Nino bobbed his head to the rhythms of the crappy pop music, tapping his foot to the same beat as the bass drums.

“This is the first time in a long time that I didn’t have to use my powers everyday,” Marinette said quietly. Adrien looked up to her, concerned.

“Do you like that?” Marinette smiled softly and nodded.

“I like no powers. Not for anyone.” Adrien smiled back but his smile faded as he turned to face the rest of the car.

“Guys, I need you to know that if you spend long periods of time without using your powers, even for just little things, there can be catastrophic damage. They build up inside of you and just burst out. Alya, that’s why you were constantly being followed by what you thought were stalkerish monsters. You never fulfilled the extent of your powers and they were subconsciously used against you. Nino, that never happened because unlike us, your power doesn’t have many negative downsides.”

“You mean unlike  _ us.  _ You don’t have this. You’re just the guy who forced us to use our powers for your own scientific observation,” Alya spat. Adrien sighed.

“That wasn’t my scientific observation. That was my fath…”

“Yeah yeah, we know, it was your father. But you were there, so you were helping him. Don’t  _ ever _ try to make our powers about you, because you will never,  _ never  _ understand the struggles of these curses.” Adrien shut up after that.

 

After stopping by the local Boost, Adrien and Nino scrolled through websites searching for jobs.

“There’s a library in Leesburg that has a position open for a library assistant and they just need a highschool diploma, which technically I have from my home schooling. It’s $15.84 an hour,” Adrien explained to the car. Nino nodded.

“And I found a janitor gig in Loudoun County. It doesn’t require any high school degree or even past experience, and they’re really desperate for someone so I think they’ll hire anyone. It pays $13.76 an hour.” Adrien typed away at his phone’s calculator.

“We could be making over $50,000 a year with our combined salaries.” Alya held up her hand.

“And I used to have an etsy where I sold homemade hats. If we get a loom and spend the three dollars for each new yarn, that’s getting two hats which I can sell for fifteen a pop… that’s a twenty seven dollar profit! It really adds up. That’s how I got all my money for my trip to Europe.” Adrien nodded.

“This is a good plan. If we reach out now to the jobs, we will be in Virginia just in time for the interviews. Alya? Did you happen to grab any formal wear from your dad’s closet?” She shrugged.

“You’ll just have to check yourself.” Adrien realized she wouldn’t be making anything easy for him, so he unbuckled and grabbed the first bag to rummage through.

 

To Alya’s disappointment, Adrien’s search for the suits ended up being a bonding time for him and Marinette as they folded clothes together, not a tedious and annoying task for him. Marinette seemed to love all of the different fabrics of clothes. She only knew of the cotton white uniform she wore in the AKUMA Institution, so seeing the myriad of colors and feeling the various textures of silks and velvet and wools excited her.

“We are almost in Virginia. Where do you think we can park without being noticed?” Adrien looked up from the dress he was folding.

“I read that parking garages are most inconspicuous. But in the crowded parts in the middle. Not the bottom or top.” Marinette tugged on Adrien’s sleeve and whispered something in his ear that made him laugh. Nino looked back at the two joking and giggling at inside jokes he didn’t understand through the mirror. He would never show it, but it bothered him how easy Adrien talked to Marinette. He knew they had history that he couldn’t understand, but so did him and her. They had the low days after testing of just late night talks and laughs of little things because they were just so tired. However, she never talked to him like she talks to Adrien, and ever since Adrien came back into the picture, it’s like Nino meant nothing to her, and he didn’t like that. 

It hadn’t really hit him until right then. He’d been so focused on the escape itself, and watching the road, that he didn’t really realize the situation. To Marinette, Adrien was this savior that saved her from this prison she had been stuck in ever since she could remember, and Nino? He was just the guy who came with. The guy who would never be Adrien.

Nino put on his headphones and blasted his music to drown out how he felt.

 

“Welcome to Leesburg, Virginia,” Adrien announced, now switched as the one driving. The town was quaint yet bustling with cars and pedestrians even at nine in the morning. Old, historic buildings mishmashed with modern shops and houses. It felt unique.

“Are you sure this is a good place to stay? There’s a lot of people here.” Adrien nodded.

“It’ll make us blend in. Yes, more people to be seen by, but also more people that AKUMA would have to look through to find us.” Alya hated to agree with him, but he was right.

“Let’s make a ground rule now. No pictures. We can’t let anyone take photos of us unless it’s absolutely necessary. We can’t risk facial recognition software.” Adrien raised his eyebrow.

“Father definitely doesn’t have that.” Alya rolled her eyes.

“We never know and can never be too safe, right?” Nino, now with his headphones off, turned to Adrien.

“When’s your interview?” Adrien glanced at him and back to the road.

“Tomorrow. You?” 

“Today.” Adrien nodded.

“We should get you to a store or something so you can get changed.” 

“What do I wear?”

 

So there Nino was, in business casual, approaching the local high school, with no prior experience with interviews or janitorial skills.

Entering the principal’s office was something he still dreaded. Even though he was eighteen, he still felt the pang of anxiety entering the room which demanded gravity and seriousness.

“Hi, nice to meet you. I’m N… Nicholas Lovett,” he reached out to shake her hand.

“Nice to meet you, Nicholas. I’m Michael Damocles, which you know from our emails. You’re the one who emailed me about the janitorial position here?” He nodded, gulping to salviate his dry throat.

“Yes, I am.” The man nodded, leaning back in her chair.

“So tell me, do you have any prior custodial experience?” He shook his head.

“No, sir. But I am a quick learner, and I have experience with cleaning in general.” He internally cringed at his response.

“Alright. How do you stay motivated doing repetitive tasks?” Nino wasn’t expecting that question.

“Well, I have lots of experience with repetition. I feel like I just remind myself that something good will come out of it, and I might find out something new. L-Like something more efficient. I also find that music keeps me sane. It doesn’t always have to be physically playing to me. I find rhythm in things and make the music in my mind to keep things going.” The man smiled as he nodded.

“Are you comfortable working night shifts?” Nino nodded eagerly.

“Nights, weekends, overtime, whatever you need.” 

“Well, if we do choose you for this job, it won’t just be cleaning. It will be inventory work and record keeping. It will be a lot of organization. Can you do that?”

“Yes, sir. I will always make physical note of everything I need to organize so there is always record. That way, nothing gets lost.” He stood up, holding her hand out for him to shake.

“We’ll keep in touch. Have a nice day.”

 

“So, how did it go?” Alya questioned as he entered the car.

“I’m not sure. He just said ‘we’ll keep in touch.’ What does that mean?” 

“I think that’s a good thing. Right? Like ‘oh I’ll talk to you later because you’ll be working here’ kind of thing?” Adrien said.

“Maybe. What are you guys doing?”

“Oh, we’re putting the seats down so there’s a flat surface for sleeping. Like a bed but shitty and hard.” Alya explained. “Oh, and we got some McDonalds. I got you the smokehouse burger. I figured that was your kind of thing.” He smiled.

“Thanks. It is my thing.” Alya let her gaze linger on his but turned away.

“Let’s make this shitty bed!”

 

“No, you pull the little loop and then the seats collapse!” Alya commanded with a mouth full of fries.

“Why don’t you just do it? I can’t figure it out.” Nino whined. She groaned.

“Okay fine.” She crawled to the back seats but landed on his lap, faces dangerously close. She pushed off.

“You uh… it’s this. See the loop?” She pulled it and the seats collapsed forward. “We have to get out so we can lay them down.”

“Yeah but what about all of these bags?” Adrien brought up. Alya, still looking to Nino responses,

“Just keep them at the trunk for now. It’s fine.” 

“Who’s going to sleep in back and who’s going to sleep in the front?” Adrien asked.

“We could do girl boy kind of thing. Guys have one day, girls have the other.” Alya proposed.

“Well…” Adrien started.

“What?”

“Me and Nino are pretty big guys. I mean, Nino is six foot and I’m five eleven. I don’t know if we’d both fit back there.” Alya groaned.

“Fine, me and Nino will.” The hazel eyed boy turned to her, wide eyed.

“We will?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry if I don’t post for a while. I’ve hit a big writer’s block and it’s testing season so I’m really busy with school. I know this is boring filler but I have ideas I swear.


	9. D O W N

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW; depression, mentions of suicide and self harm

    It had been a few weeks of waiting in the car for answers, but Adrien and Nino were successful with their new employment. While Adrien was at the library at his new job, and Nino was already starting his first day at work, the girls were left alone in the car for the day.

    “Guess this is our new normal, Marinette,” Alya stated. The blue eyed girl quietly nodded.

Marinette looked at the three pieces she had set aside when her and Adrien were folding clothes on the drive there. The first piece was a pair of denim overalls, then a pretty pastel pink top, and finally a soft dress. Marinette thought long and hard and created a mashup of all three with her powers: a pink skirt with an overall top attached in the fabric she loved. Alya turned around seeing the glow of red.

“What was that?” Marinette looked up.

“Oh, I was just making something.” She held up her creation.

“You made that? It’s amazing. Very you,” Alya said, smiling.

“But I don’t know what I should wear under it,” Marinette scrunched her nose as she thought, but her hands flowed as she thought. Suddenly, a white and black turtleneck sweater appeared in her hands.

“Do you want to go to one of the shops and get changed then get some yummy ice cream?”

“What’s that?”

 

Marinette happily nibbled at her Cookies Make Everything Batter ice cream in her new outfit. Alya watched the smaller girl with adoration. She didn’t know her for long, but she wished she could have the view on life as she did. She just seemed so optimistic.

“Hey Mari?” Marinette looked up, cookie crumbs on her lips.

“Hm?”

“How do you stay so happy all the time?” She shrugged as she took another lick of her ice cream.

“I’m not happy. I don’t think I’ll ever be really happy anymore. Actually, I don’t think anyone ever is. I think I just think about all the good things to make me not think about all the bad things.” Alya was taken aback by her philosophical statement.

“Why aren’t you happy? You seemed so content since we’ve left AKUMA.” Marinette shrugged again.

“Like I said, I don’t think I’ll ever be happy. Lots of bad stuff has happened to me and it made me not happy, and I don’t think I’ll ever get over it. Even though you and Nino and Adrien make me happy, and pretty dresses and ice cream make me happy, it doesn’t take away the bad stuff that I still feel. Everyday I would try to make stuff for Hawkmoth with my powers, but sometimes I couldn’t and he’d be disappointed in me and then I’d be disappointed in me and then I just thought… maybe I’m not supposed to have powers. Maybe I’m not supposed to be alive because I can’t do anything right.” Alya didn’t know how to respond to the smaller girl who continued to cheerfully lick her ice cream. Alya had never considered the mental toll that AKUMA had done to her. Marinette was too uneducated to understand the weighted concept of depression.

“Let’s head back to the car. Okay?” Marinette nodded, oblivious and jubilant.

 

After the boys days at work, the four sat quietly in the car. Nino scrolled through his phone and Adrien flipped through the pages of a book he had gotten. Alya pulled into the parking lot of a local diner.

“Hey Nino, how about you and Marinette go in and order dinner.” Nino looked to her in a way that said, “are you sure?” “You know what I want, and I’m sure Adrien will be fine with whatever you choose for him.” Nino reluctantly nodded.

“Come on, Marinette. We can get a hotdog.” She looked to him with wonder.

“Is it really made of dog?” The two chattered as they left to go to the restaurant. Alya turned to face Adrien, who started to move the clutter for the night

“Did you know?” Adrien looked up, unsure of what she meant.

“What?”

“Did you know that Marinette has depression?” He sighed.

“It wasn’t always this bad.” She clenched her jaw.

“So being at AKUMA caused this.”

“I’m not saying it didn’t. AKUMA was never a place for her to truly be her. To be the person she could have always been. She had years of endless testing since she was four. For years it was just her and my father. I didn’t even meet her until I was was eight. So that was four years where she was alone. I can’t even imagine what that can do to her developing brain. That’s why she hasn’t really aged much mentally. I tried to teach her things when I would get back from school, but she couldn’t really wrap her brain around the concepts just hearing my voice through the wall. I tried to be the right person for her. The person to pull her out of the hell she had been dragged into but I couldn’t.” He paused and took a deep breath. “To answer your question, yes. I did know. And it goes a lot farther than just depression. I don’t think she knows what suicide is, but she tried to commit a couple times. Her first attempt was when she was thirteen. They kept happening throughout the years. I don’t even think Nino knows about them. I just know that sometimes she would create things that were meant to harm her, and she would do things like try to cut her wrists so that her hands wouldn’t be able to work, or create guns or knives to just end her life. She just wanted everything to stop.”

“Then why didn’t you help her?” Adrien took another shaky breath.

“I tried. I really tried. When I would monitor her room, I would be the one going in and holding her to calm her down. I was the one who had to patch up the cuts.” Alya continued to become more frustrated.

“Couldn’t you convince your dad to stop?”

“My father is not a force to be reckoned with. He has a temper and he gets what he wants. He wouldn’t ever let me interfere with what he was doing. If I tried… when I tried to stop his experiments, it didn’t end well for me. I’m terrified of the man. He didn’t show any compassion. All he knew was his work.” Alya didn’t like that Adrien was a real person with real feelings. It was easy to hate him when he was the face of all of her problems; an evil being with evil intentions. But the way he spoke about Marinette and the way she saw him tense up about the thought of his father made her realize there was more to Adrien than she knew.

“Marinette isn’t doing well. I don’t know what to do or what to say, but I think you might. I think… I think you and Marinette should spend some time together. Maybe she can come to the library and you could teach her how to read.” Adrien looked to her, unsure of her intentions.

“Why are you suddenly trusting me?” She shook her head.

“I don’t trust you. But you’re the only one Marinette does.”


	10. 9 - 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m back!

(Since people were wondering what Adrien’s makeover is like, here’s what I imagined: [Adrien’s Look](https://drive.google.com/file/d/19OClLUEDM-DBQKN9yYR3ZBSBfLFAYMem/view?usp=drivesdk))

As Adrien checked into the library with Marinette, she stared in wonder at the shelves of colorful books, the endless rows of rainbow spines catching her eye. He took her hand and led her to the children’s section.

“Since I just started working here they mostly have me shelve books throughout the day, but since we just opened, I have some time before people start returning, so I thought it’d be a good idea to teach you how to read.” Wide eyed, she furrowed her eyebrows at the notion.

“What do I need to read for?” He chuckled softly.

“It’s very helpful. And it gives something to do when Nino and I are at work.” She nodded slowly, not fully understanding the concept. All of her life, she had lived life with pictures. Hawkmoth providing her pictures of things he wanted her to recreate. Pictures of things she didn’t recognize but had to imagine. Pictures she couldn’t quite replicate. She never had a reason to learn to read or write when her whole life was pictures. Adrien grabbed a colorful alphabet book from the shelf.

“This book will teach you the alphabet. I’m not sure how quickly you’ll catch on, since you already have a concept of the spoken language.” She opened the page and immediately peeled up.

“A! I remember this! A is for…” she scrunched her face at the word but looked at the picture. “Apple. That’s apple but as a word?” He smiled.

“You got it.” The two sat comfortably on the bean bag chairs as they read through some baby books with simple concepts for Marinette to catch onto. Time went by quickly and Adrien only got to get through three books before he was called to work. 

“I’m just gonna be around the library, okay? You can read whatever you like. If you have any questions, just find me.” Still engulfed in the pages, she merely nodded, concentrating on identifying the letters and words. Adrien smiled as he took one last glance at her before going to get the book cart. His cowork, Rose, greeted him from behind the counter.

“Who’s that?” She asked.

“Oh that’s my uh… she’s… she’s my friend. Mary. She has some learning issues so I thought a trip to the library would be nice for her. Help her understand literature.” Adrien didn’t like lying, but boy was he good at it.

“That’s really sweet of you. How do you two know each other?” Adrien continued to look at the books rather than making eye contact to avoid any faltering.

“My dad introduced us. She was a part of his internship.” Rose gave him a confused look.

“But you said she has learning issues.” He nodded.

“She does, but she’s amazing at creating things. Uh really artsy.”

“Ah. So your dad, is he like an artsy guy?” Adrien had to think for a moment.

“Fashion designer. Mary actually made the outfit she’s wearing now.” Rose looked over to the girl who stuck her tongue out as she concentrated.

“Wow. I couldn’t even tell. She’s really good.” Adrien laughed nervously.

“Yeah. She was definitely my dad’s… protégé. Uh I should go get these books shelved.” Rose gave him a quick thumbs up as he pushed the cart away and let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

 

By lunch time, when Adrien went to go check up on Marinette, he saw that she was no longer reading simple alphabet books, but more complex picture books. She beamed with excitement when she noticed him approach.

“Adrien!! I read…” she began to count on her fingers. “thirty-one books!”As he sat down he placed his hand atop hers, rubbing his thumb on the back of her hand. 

“I’m very proud of you.” She smiled a toothy grin.

“Did you come over to read with me more?” He shook his head.

“I think you need a little break. Let’s go get pizza. I get a discount since I work in the plaza.” She tilted her head in bewilderment.

“Pizza?” He interlocked his fingers with hers.

“You’re in for a treat.”

 

“You’ve got some sauce on your face,” Adrien pointed out. Marinette attempted to wipe it off with a napkin with no prevail. “I’ll get it.” The simple act of kindness felt intimate, but Adrien knew he couldn’t feel that way. No matter how much he cared for Marinette, her well-being and stability was more important than his lingering feelings.

“Today when I was reading I read about this silly looking guy with a hat! He had eggs and ham but they were green! I know that eggs and ham aren’t green because I’ve made them before. That’s what made it funny!” Adrien couldn’t help but smile listening to her gush about her reading. 

“Well, if you want to come to the library more often, you can. I’d love the company. You’re always welcome and it’s always safe there.” There was a moment of silence as Marinette nibbled on the cheesey slice when she looked up and blurted out,

“Guess how much I love you.” The blue haired boy almost choked on his soda.

“What?” 

“Guess how much I love you.” He loosened in relief as he realized she was quoting a book that she didn’t understand the meaning of yet.

“How much?”

“I love you as high as I can reach,” she reached to the ceiling and giggled.

“Well I love you right up to the moon.” 

“That’s far,” she responded.

“That is very, very far.” They both laughed together, and for a moment they let the world wash away. They let their fears of AKUMA and worries of being found dissipate to enjoy the brief moment of peace.

 

After the strenuous day of work, Adrien and Nino relaxed in their reclined seats.

“Who knew shelving books would hurt your arms so much? And my quads are killing me. I have to do squats like all the time,” Adrien complained.

“You think that’s bad? High schoolers are completely disgusting. The shit I had to see in those boys bathroom was horrific. Plus, I’m drawing too much attention to myself. Being the new, young janitor is getting a lot of eyes drawn to me.” Alya chortled.

“You can’t just get uglier. You’re a good looking guy. There’s nothing you can do about that.” Nino looked to the girl.

“You think I’m good looking?” Alya, internally kicking herself for saying that, changed the subject.

“Not the point.” She paused. “So I was thinking that I want to finish high school. I was about to graduate my senior year, and I feel like I’m missing out on closing that chapter of my life.” Adrien looked back to her.

“Well, why don’t you go to that school that Nino is working at?” Alya nodded.

“That would be one less drive. But don’t there need to be forms and stuff? Things to get me into the school?” Adrien shrugged.

“I mean, you’re technically homeless. They have different rules for those kinds of kids.” Alya sighed.

“You better be right, Agreste.”

“Marinette, if you don’t want to be alone in the car, you can come to the library with me more often,” Adrien suggested. The pig-tailed girl nodded.

“I don’t want to be alone.” Alya held up a hand to interject.

“But what about our stuff?” 

“There’s staff parking in the library in the back of the plaza behind all of the buildings. It should be safe there. But I think we might want to consider getting an apartment when we get our pay.” Alya looked to him with disbelief.

“We can’t just stay here. We have to get as far from AKUMA as we can.”

“We do, but passports take time. Getting the money for four plane tickets take time. Passing citizenship tests, getting jobs as immigrants, and finishing high school to get a degree take time. It’s just a year. We just have to lay low for a year and we will be gone. Okay?” She begrudgingly crosses her arms over her chest.

“Fine.”


End file.
